Ailurophobia
by OSUSprinks
Summary: ADMM, What is Min being so secretive about? Albus is about to find out!


_A/N: This is a response to challenge #70 on the AD/MM Boards about phobias. I was glancing through the list of phobias on a webpage someone posted and this one popped out at me. I hope you enjoy!_

_Disclaimer: I'm not JKR and you can quote me on that!_

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Albus considered Minerva his closest friend. They had become close during her seventh year at Hogwarts and their many animagus sessions. When she's gone on to receive her degrees in transfiguration they had remained in frequent communication. She had been at his side during the final battle with Grindlewald. When he had been appointed Headmaster, hers had been the only name on his list of possible replacements for the Transfiguration Master, Head of Gryffindor House, and the Deputy Head positions he'd found himself needing to fill. Aside from the one piece of information which she surely would not want to hear, he had never lied to her or kept things from her and he hoped the same could be said of her. That was why he found it so troubling that she seemed to be keeping something from him.

Ever since her return to Hogwarts a few months before, Minerva had spent one week each month being very secretive, only leaving her rooms to teach. She even ate in her rooms, refusing to join him and the others in the Great Hall.

Each time he had questioned Minerva about her behavior, she became uncharacteristically quiet and flustered, almost embarrassed. Blushing she would refuse to answer, only telling him he wouldn't understand. This month Albus was determined to find out the truth.

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He made his way to her rooms after dinner, her second in a row of not appearing in the Great Hall. He knocked on her door. After not receiving a response, Albus hesitated momentarily before muttering the password and pushing the door slightly open.

"Minerva?" Once again there was no answer. Albus entered her darkened foyer. He saw at once that her sitting room was empty, the fire cold. The door to her bedchamber stood open and Albus called out once more before answering. She had not left the castle, he would have known, and her lack of response had him worried she might be ill.

There were two bottles on her nightstand, their broken seals marking them as Poppy's pain potion. Minerva laid on her large Gryffindor-colored bed, curled on her side, with a pillow clutched to her stomach, muttering in her sleep. Her long, beautiful, black hair lay loose around her and she wore only a practical white cotton night gown.

He'd never seen her look lovelier.

Albus contained the surge of emotion he felt as he leaned over Minerva. He gently took the pillow from her and pulled her blankets up around her bare arms and shoulders. As he leaned down to kiss her forehead, unable and unwilling to stop himself, Minerva's eyes fluttered open.

"Albus?" Her cheeks flushed as she bit her lower lip, looking even more adorable than she usually did.

"I didn't mean to wake you, Min." He sat down on the edge of her bed. "I was coming to talk to you and worried when you didn't answer the door. I thought I would tuck you in now and talk to you later."

"Talk?" She yawned. Albus knew that drowsiness and slight confusion were symptoms of the heavy pain medication she had taken, and he wondered why she was taking such strong prescriptions.

"Yes, but we will talk later."

"Talk about what, Albus?" Minerva struggled to sit up, but Albus held her down with a gentle hand upon each of her arms.

"We will talk about you and your disappearing act, but later. Not now."

"Oh, Albus." She began to tear up. "I'm so sorry. It's just that…oh…I don't know what to say except that, well…" Her eyes were beginning to clear, a sign the side effects of the medication were beginning to wear off. "I have a bit of an ailurophobe, I suppose you could say."

Albus was stunned. "Ailurophobe? You are afraid of cats?"

Minerva's blush deepened. "Yes Albus, I'm afraid of cats. Male cats, if you must know." Minerva sat up easily this time. Albus' hands remained on her arms as he sat looking at her, a stunned expression on his face.

"Oh, I might as well tell you now, I suppose. Albus, when I have my…my monthlies…" Minerva's blush spread down her neck and chest, disappearing beneath the neckline of her nightgown as she dropped her eyes from his own flushed face. She closed her eyes briefly before opening them again, this time with a new resolve. Her green eyes met his blue eyes with determination. "When I get my m-monthlies, the male cats tend to, well, they attack me."

"A-attack you?" Albus struggled to control his laughter.

"Go on and laugh. I know it is funny. It's just that I can't stop them so I have to hide from them. Apparently it will be this way until I'm…finished, I suppose, or I find a tom of my own." She began to chuckle as Albus sobered.

"A Tom?"

"Yes, Albus. I owled my mentor in Egypt as soon as I realized what was happening. Apparently she had the same problem." Minerva giggled and Albus' heart lifted at the sound.

"I can imagine it must be interesting to have peacocks displaying full feathers for your pleasure."

Minerva laughed again. "Yes, but her suitors were a bit less aggressive than mine."

"So you have the options of hiding in your rooms for one week each month for the next hundred years, or you can _find a Tom?_"

"Apparently the peacocks only stopped their strutting once her husband, then her boyfriend, _established his territory_ is how she put it."

"His territory meaning her, I assume?" She nodded. "So, any candidates for the position of Tom?"

Minerva's blush returned full force, but her resolve remained. "Only one, but I don't know if he would be interested." Her gaze seemed to bore into him.

Suddenly he realized that he might not be the only one hiding something.

With a new twinkle in his eye, Albus leaned closer to Minerva. "Is there somewhere I could pick up an application?"

Minerva smiled coyly, "I think we can skip straight to the interview process."

"How about Friday evening?" Albus leaned even closer, their lips just inches apart.

"I think I'm free, _Tom_," she said as their lips met.

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Minerva never missed a meal in the Great Hall again, other than an occasional Friday dinner.

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_A/N: Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed!_


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